


Not a Nightmare, But Reality.

by ToTheMax



Series: Rowan's October Challenge [5]
Category: Set It Off (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 05:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16212422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTheMax/pseuds/ToTheMax
Summary: Max gets an answer to only one of his questions.





	Not a Nightmare, But Reality.

**Author's Note:**

> To those of u binge reading the October challenge: we'really back on our bullshit
> 
> To those of u that found this on random: this bullshit is a continuation of Chef's Special. Might wanna start at the beginning to get a hint as to what's going on

He doesn't have to sleep to have a nightmare.

He hasn't been able to sleep. The monster won't let him. In the quiet moments when the monster just rests his body after overexertion everything he has to offer, he just dreams that this will end soon. 

The monster has made him see things he doesn’t want to see, ever again. Unspeakable horrors, done to forgettable faces for no reason other than the monsters enjoyment. He barely gives Maxx a chance to move his own body. When he does, he's so hurt he can't move. 

He's in Hell. A purple tinted, blood-soaked hell.

But sometimes, he lets up. He gives Maxx a small dose of what he craves. He lets him sleep for an hour or two. He goes down to Chipotle, orders a burrito bowl to go. Then, once he's done, it's back to weeks on end full of horror.

Maxx bears through it. One day, the monster will stop for good. One day, he’ll finally be free from this. He can't face Cody or Dan again,not after what he did to Zach, but he could go underground. Make a new identity for himself, go hotel hopping until he dies. That's his life now.

The monster has let him sleep. Who knows how long. Maybe it was twenty minutes, maybe it was twenty hours. He didn't know time anymore, but he was grateful. He's taught himself how to lucid dream, so he could be in his own paradise for a while.

In his lucid dreams, Awsten is there. His old band mates are all there, alive and well. They go to amusement parks, have movie nights, anything Maxx can think of. Sometimes, it's just him and Awsten. He misses the quiet lazy saturdays, the energetic nights when they're jamming out and pissing off the entire apartment complex. Whether it was making their own songs or doing covers of existing ones, he wouldn't trade them for anything.

He dreams their ‘I love you's and even though it's soft, happy, his heart aches. He doesn't want to admit it to himself, but he's forgetting what Awsten sounded like, he's slowly forgetting his looks, and he doesn't want to go back into his bathroom to look at his decaying skeleton, the knife still sticking out of his chest.

Suddenly his lucid dream fades away, and he's left in blackness. It's nothing except him, and a small rabbit.

That was the form the monster chose to present itself. They rarely spoke face-to-face, but this must be a special occasion.

“I have business to do,” it said. Maxx sat down to hear it better. “I'm taking you with me.”

“What are you doing?” All of his happy elation from his dream was washed away. “What are you gonna use me for this time?”

“We could call it a test of endurance. You're not the only one I'm fucking with, you know.” the rabbit hops close and nestles next to his leg. If Maxx didn't know better, he would have thought it was cute. “I need to visit my other buddies again. We head out when you wake up.”

Maxx quietly ponders if it's possible to sleep forever. If he just never opens his eyes, could he contain the monster?

“No,” it said. “If you're not gonna cooperate, I can get you up myself. Then I can make it worse for you.” 

“What more can you do to me?” Maxx blurted. “You've essentially taken everything from me.”

The rabbit scampered away from him and cackled. “That's just what the last guy said! I've already had this conversation with him, and I don't feel like rehashing it right now.” 

Maxx stood up, grabbing the rabbit by the ears. His anger fumed through his body. All he needed was a spark to explode. “Why is this such a funny fucking game to you?”

The monster, oddly, was calm. “I don't think we should have this conversation while I'm like this. I know someone who will ask the same questions. C’mon, get up and I’ll answer you.”

“No, no I'm  _ not  _ gonna kill anyone.” Maxx threw the rabbit down, feeling that spark attempting to ignite. “Answer me. Right now. I don't give a shirt what you look like.”

The rabbit seemed miffed. It ran its front paws over its ears, then looked at Maxx. “Well,  _ I  _ do. And I'm not gonna be a fucking rabbit explaining this to you. Get the fuck up.”

He was jarred awake, his vision already purple. “I gotta revisit an old friend anyway,” his voice said. Then, he picked up his machete and was out the door.

Their destination was where Zach was killed. Again, he had the spiders set up and a man he didn't even know chained to the table. “I imagine you have a lot of questions. Please, feel free to ask them.”

“Why the fuck are you doing this?” the man screamed. “What the fuck is your problem!?”

“It's all for fun,” Maxx answered. He didn't need the monster to answer that correctly. If he's going to use his body, he gets a turn to speak. “I do this all for a game,” The monster continued.l, silently praising him for standing up for himself.

“Some fucking game,” the man hissed, “My life is not a game for you to play!”

“Here's the answer to one of your questions, buddy,” the monster said to Maxx, then he started pacing, watching the man closely. “Life is… an odd term to use in this situation, Marcus. Your life, as you put it, can fall into any hands that Fate chooses. And such, Fate has chosen to put your life in  _ my  _ hands. Now, that doesn't sound like a ‘life’ right now, does it? It's more of a…” the monster paused for the right word, waving his machete around as he thought. “Like a puppet, right?” Maxx’s voice gained a growl. “A little marionette, yankin’ on your strings. I snatched those damn strings from God’s hands, and now you're stuck with me.”

The monster grinned widely, watching as the man went speechless. “So,” he continued to take up the silence. “Why is this such a fun game to me? Why do I take amusement out of this? That was your question, yeah? Why am I such a heartless son of a bitch, huh? Was that it?”

Marcus stared silently, but gave the tiniest hint of a nod. The monster grinned, then went behind him to quickly pick up another tarantula and set it on him. “Well, that's simple. I don't have a heart. You think a human could do this shit? You think a human has the  _ ability _ to do what I do daily? No. Not at all. Sure, they have the drive, they have the emotion. I'm just there to pick up the slack and make them fucking do it already.” 

 

He started pacing again, dragging the machete next to him and letting it scrape along the floor. “I know a guy. He had a boyfriend. I mean, don't hate him for it, it's twenty-eighteen! Gay rights and fuckall, whatever they care about. That's not the point.”

Maxx didn't want to hear what he had to say. It was about him, he knew it.

“So, they're in love, right? All happy and cuddly.” The monster stops pacing to stop and jump at Marcus. “Uh-oh! The whole relationship isn't so cuddly and lovey! They get in a fight. I forget what the hell it's about, something meaningless.”

It wasn't meaningless. Maxx remembers it. It was his fault. He was drunk and Awsten was having a panic attack about him being late home. All maxx remembers of that is sleeping on the floor that night, and a few nights after.

“You know what this guy said to his poor man? He says, ‘Fuck you!’ Just like that, ‘Fuck you! I can do what I want, and fuck you!’ That shit just makes his man cry harder.”

Ah. That's what he said. He remembers it now. That was the driving point where Awsten screams that he's not sleeping in the bed tonight, them slams the door shut.

“I know what that dude was feeling. He was  _ so _ fucking pissed. He wanted to take a knife and shove it into his man’s whiny chest, make him fucking stop breathing.”

_ No, no. I didn't want that. _

“He had a dream about it.”

_ I did not. You're lying. _

“Okay, not a dream, but he thought about it. He thought about taking one of their knives-”

_ Stop it. _

“-And  _ driving  _ it right through his ribs into his lungs!” the monster leaped forward, emphasising by roughly hacking at Marcus ankle and chopping his foot clean off.

Marcus screamed out, rightfully. His legs jarred, desperate to get out of his restraints. Both tarantulas flew off his body and hit the floor, quickly scrabbling to the nearest cracked in the wall.

“So,” the monster continues once Marcus is done screaming. “A few months passes, maybe even a few years, hell if I know. They're all back together, being nice, all cuddly. I wanna stop it. It's gross, it's disgusting. So, I get to the guys boyfriend. A few murders here and there, nothing too noticeable. Then I go for it. See, look, I kill their neighbor. That gets this guy scared, right? His boyfriend just killed a man, and he's in the fucking bathroom!”

_ Please stop. I don't wanna hear this. _

“So, the guy is scared, right? He's terrified. He doesn't wanna hear any excuses. So I make the guy do it himself. Made him kill his fucking boyfriend. And the best part? That just a run a’ mill thing for me! I do that shit all the time!”

“Why?” Marcus whispered. “Why the fuck do you do this?”

“I already told you. It's a game. Your puppet of a life is a game to me. That's all. No other motive for me.” He went to the table full of spiders in tupperware, examining each container, each with a different spider. “Now, enough of that. Guess you didn't get an answer to your other question,” he said to Maxx. “It'll be answered soon, I'm sure of it. Let's wrap this up, why don't we? How many funnel webs do you want?” he called to Marcus.

“What do you mean?” Marcus asked, panic rising in his voice.

“Two, then.” He picked up two of the deadly creatures, then forced them onto Marcus body enough to make them angry and bite.

The monster turned to the door with a smile. “Come on, Maxx. I have more business to tend to. It's time for that endurance test.”


End file.
